The Animated Question
by scrapbookofwasabi
Summary: Kasane Teto, Empress of the Animated Empire of Japan, finds herself in a nasty Gordian knot when she finds herself facing the formidable Eurasian Union, which wants the Kuril Islands back. Can she win? Features characters from Toradora!, Eromanga-Sensei, & I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying.


Everything, Kasane decides, is the fault of those accursed Eurasians.

But the Eurasian Union can wait.

But first, a look at the immense amount of tasks she has to perform.

As Empress of the Animated Empire of Japan, Kasane Teto is both imperial sovereign of the Japanese archipelago and protector of the Kuril Islands. How she became protector of the Kuril Islands will come later, but at the moment, you need only know that this protectorate over the Kuril Islands is the whole reason why the Eurasian Union is so jumped up about the Animated Empire of Japan.

First, Kasane has a speech she must give to the National Diet in half-an-hour. Then she must travel to the military base outside of Kyoto and review the troops stationed there. After all, ever since the animated people ousted the Japanese government from power, Kasane Teto has has now taken upon herself the obfuscating task of running an empire. This empire is a true empire, unlike the old Japanese government with an emperor in name only. _This_ empire shall make the world tremble.

But there is a curious saying regarding leadership: _it is easier to blow up trains then make them run on time._

That is a statement that resounds within Kasane Teto every day.

Kasane Teto grasps her familiar stick of bread and moves throughout the Imperial Palace, saying hello to the various courtiers that pass by. The Empress is apprehensive, for she clutches the speech in her hand, ready to address the National Animated Diet.

After embarking from the limousine that has carried her to the National Diet building, Empress Kasane arrives.

The National Diet is in an uproar. Men and women- mostly young people around the ages of twenty-one to thirty-three, argue over laws, bills, and motions. Someone throws their loafer. It looks like to Kasane that a riot is breaking out.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Kasane says, with as much etiquette as she can muster, for she is not in the mood for calming down a mob. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Diet."

The Diet continues to fight.

Kasane waits.

Such is the nature of leadership.

At last, one of the councillors- this is the combined House of Councillors and Representatives, something which Kasane has not changed since the Animated Empire ousted the former government of Japan- looks at her. He is a young man, well-groomed, black hair and smart-looking glasses. He blushes.

One by one they notice her, women and men of all shapes and sizes, of all hair colors, as they all turn to look at the Empress with trepidation and what they would call fear. But Kasane knows no hate for the members of the Diet, for is not the point of a Parliament to debate and deliberate? And over and over again?

Kasane waits.

"Your Majesty," the same man says, adjusting his eyeglasses, "the bill on whether to continue the protectorate over the Kuril Islands is still ongoing, hence, the _argument_ that you saw. As of now, the bill looks like it is going nowhere."

Several representatives and councillors laugh nervously at that.

"It is my proposal," says Kasane, reading rather nervously from the speech that she has in her hand, "that the protectorate over the Kuril Islands be continued. In fact, I propose that the Kuril Islands be formally annexed by the Empire, for the Kuril Islands belonged to Japan before they did to the Russians, who are now the Eurasians. This claim must be asserted, to cement our position on the world stage. Ever since this state was conceived on the 5th of June, 1992, I have been anxious to cement the Empire's hold on whatever there is possible. This is our first- and I hope, our _last-_ imperialist endeavor. The Japanese government-in-exile watches from South Korea, gleefully grinning at every blunder we make. When old General Illyuganov invaded Hokkaido in 1998, they just about died from laughter."

The Diet is silent now, as they listen to Kasane's speech. Kasane, for her part, is no longer timid about this. She feels the rage of nationalism; the rage of ten thousand dead- those who were killed by the Japanese government as it attempted to restrain the animated people- all that, and much more.

Kasane plows on, inspired by this newfound fervor.

"But we _showed_ old General Illyuganov! That ex-Soviet general-turned-tyrant of the Kuril Islands thought he could invade our home, massacre our people, reap the hard-earned rewards from defeating the Japanese government! Look where he is now! He is _dead,_ dead of suicide, and his army shattered! The Empire rules the Kuril Islands now, and it is time we showed the world what we can do."

She looks towards the Diet's wall, where a smattering of flags lie. There is the flag of the United States, and the European Union, and China, but most importantly, the gray-blue field, red-stripe and red-yellow star of the Eurasian Union.

"And I will let no _Eurasians_ stand in the way of realizing that."

She expects nothing but arguing, more arguing as the Diet will most likely deliberate the problems of funding such an endeavor, of integrating the Kuril Islands into the domain of the Empire, of reprisals from the Eurasians and the United Nations, such as they are. Kasane already has such things prepared, but nothing is about to prepare her for what happens next.

The same young man who notices her in the beginning applauds. It is loud throughout the mostly silent Diet. Loud, but still solitary.

Then they all clap.

The clapping is replaced by shouts of "Ay!" A few "No's" can be heard, but they are few and far in between. All over and over the Diet screams its approval, for Kasane to mobilize the forces of the Empire and go to the Kuril Islands, which are, for the moment, still officially an independent nation. But that is about to change.

Kasane knows she is not young anymore. She ascended the throne on the 5th of March in 1997, amidst the fall of the cherry blossoms and the opening shots of Illyuganov's invasion of Hokkaido. It is now the 7th of September in 2013. Much has passed between those times. The Islamophobia, the War on Terror, the Great Recession. Kasane has weathered those storms. She has weathered that and much, much more.

But then, Kasane is not _that_ old.

"To the Kuril Islands!" Empress Kasane Teto roars, and with her are the screams of the National Diet of Japan, spurred on by nationalist fervor and the lofty dreams of conquest.


End file.
